


Whole

by tardisy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 9x23 Coda, Episode Tag, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-26 01:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1669130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardisy/pseuds/tardisy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.<br/>-Aristotle</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whole

 

 _A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end_.  
Aristotle

 

 

In the end, Cas wins with his intelligence, with his cunning and cleverness, sharper than any blade he’ll ever wield.

(But it doesn’t feel like a victory, because he lost the one he was fighting for.)

 

* * *

 

Castiel finds himself alone in a quiet moment in Heaven and suddenly realizes that the last time — the  _last time —_ he ever saw Dean his beloved features were twisted and his eyes glazed with a crazed and foreign rage, the last time he ever heard his voice he was gruffly begging to be let out of his cage, the one Cas helped trap him in, and the last time he ever touched him was in fear, in restraint.

And he blames himself for being too late, for failing his mission, the one that began as fueled by the fires of Heaven, but was quickly overwhelmed by a far more profound bond.

Once, before he stretched his wings in the darkest depths of Hell and reached for the soul there shining bright, he wept for humanity, for its beauty, for its grace. Now, he only weeps for one.

“ _Dean._ ”

 

* * *

 

 "You’re human," Dean murmurs as he runs a gentle hand through Cas’ tousled hair. The Mark is gone, burned away by the remnants of Castiel’s grace, even while the rest of him still smoulders with an angel’s love.

Cas leans into Dean’s touch, exhausted and weak, but his smile is fond and voice triumphant when he replies, “So are _you_.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on [Tumblr](http://tardisy.tumblr.com/post/86435976557/whole-deancas-9x23-coda)!


End file.
